1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to electronic backplanes and, more particularly, to an RF backplane particularly suited for military avionic applications.
2. Discussion
A current trend in military avionic electronics is the two level flightline maintenance concept. This concept involves the design of an airplane's electronic components to facilitate removal and replacement of defective or dysfunctional components on the flightline. Following fault detection and isolation, affected modules, cables and backplane components are to be removed and replaced without removal of the aircraft from its flightline, thereby significantly improving aircraft flight readiness.
The vast majority of problems occurring with an airplane's electronic components involve the interconnecting RF backplane. This backplane typically extends along the back surface of an enclosure or integrated rack which is fixedly installed in the plane. The backplane provides the electrical interconnections for various electronic components housed within the rack. These components mainly include line replaceable modules (LRMs) which generally plug into the backplane from the front. However, most interconnections therebetween are provided by printed circuits and hardwired connections, often on the back surface of the backplane. This back surface of the backplane may also provide input/output (I/O) cable connections as well as rack to rack cable connections.
In this conventional configuration, the LRMs which usually slide into the rack and plug into the backplane from the front can often be fairly easily removed from the rack for repair or replacement. However, if an electrical problem originates with the backplane itself or other interconnecting components or cables, current backplane designs require removal of the entire rack from the airplane for complete access to the back surface of the backplane. This removal of the rack and replacement or repair of the backplane elements can take several hours to complete and often requires removal of the plane from its flightline. There is, therefore, a need for the capability to readily remove and replace not only defective LRMs but also backplane elements on the flightline, in support of the two level flightline maintenance concept.